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There are a few android phones like motorola droid or the lg enact with slideout keyboards like the one in the N900 (not sure if as comfortable too). They aren't too powerful, nor with a big resolution screen, but probably would be an improvement. With a bit of luck you can install cyanogenmod on them, or even ubuntu touch or others built from android base like firefox os for extra hackability.

If you want another kind of phone, Blackberry Q10 have a keyboard and a good screen resolution for that format. And there are cases for other phones that provides a keyboard, like this one for the S4.

You can change a bit the focus of your search too.The N900 wasn't so great as a phone, but was great as a pocket computer, maybe searching for something that fits in that role and having something else as phone (and maybe 3g hotspot) could have better alternatives.

While their froyo rollout in America has been delayed, and far from smooth in Europe, that thread you linked to is complete utter bullshit.

your experience is atypical. task killers are well known to reduce battery life, degrade performance, cause instability, and to just generally be a silly thing to do. Everyone from the Android development team to ROM hackers to multiple "experts" say the same thing: Don't run a task killler. Don't take my word for it...

http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/

http://www.droid-den.com/android-guides/android-guide-should-i-use-a-task-killer

http://androinica.com/2010/05/07/google-and-cyanogen-comments-imply-task-killermanager-apps-are-pointless/

http://lifehacker.com/5650894/android-task-killers-explained-what-they-do-and-why-you-shouldnt-use-them

http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/

etc...

The G2 uses the Scorpion core, which is capable of 1.2 GHz but clocked down to 800 MHz (probably for battery life). It's superior, even at 800 MHz, to the 1 GHz snapdragon. The GPU performance is much on par with the Galaxy S, so they don't need the CPU running at a high clock speed like on the pre-GPU phones you compare it to (except the Galaxy S, which this performs comparably too).

That this is news is ... uh, news to me. Just over a week ago I got a myTouch 3g Slide (after having been - voluntarily - without a phone for over a year) and the first thing I did was to find a way to root it. I've installed Cyanogenmod and am loving it. I found the instructions for getting root access at http://androidspin.com/2010/08/14/new-root-method-for-mytouch-3g-slide/ and instructions for installing the Cyanogenmod ROM at http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Full_Update_Guide_-_HTC_Slide. The main reason I rooted it was to tether (which, to be honest, was the main reason I got a phone at all) and it works smoothly and easily - just toggle one switch in the system settings. T-Mobile, for their part, also seems to tolerate tethering from what I've gathered.

Getting rid of some crappy T-mo branding stuff and software is a bonus too.

So, if you have the myTouch 3g Slide (I'm pretty sure it's exactly the same as the HTC Slide) and are thinking of rooting it, I say - go for it!/p)

heya,

Lol, sorry mate, I'm going to have to politely disagree with most of your points.

I have a Nexus One, and I've had Froyo for some time - ever since the leaked pre-release copy.

1. Those who use a task-killer on Android show a serious lack of understanding of how the OS actually works. Please do some reading before citing ignorant examples like this:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6426198 (links to below article)
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
http://androidspin.com/2010/05/25/why-you-dont-need-a-task-killer-app-with-android/

2. Yes, you can disable this feature. It's under Settings, Privacy, Automatic restore (Yes/No).

3. Once again, please do some reading before citing ignorant examples like this. See the above link on how Android handles background processed.

4. I don't know about random. However, you can unmerge Contacts quite easily - just hit the menu button on an open contact, and hit "Split". To be honest, I've found this feature quite useful in certain cases, and it's not hard to tweak.

Do you actually own an Android phone? *sigh* Please read a bit (or just play around it, I found a lot of the above, just through using the phone).

Cheers,
Victor

You can still roll your own.

Yes I'm a big fan of Cyanogenmod, myself. Turns the venerable G1 into a useful device.

I have an ADP1 (aka G1), it's very limited hardware wise, making it hard to support the latest OS version. I could say I almost got burned.

But thanks to the open nature of Android and the XDA community, I am able to upgrade to 2.1 and soon 2.2: http://db.androidspin.com/androidspin_developer_display.asp?developerid=105

> The problem with that argument is these support
> periods aren't currently transparent

That's what I said. We need one manufacturer to take the risk and take this market by saying something like: we support 2 years upgrades on our devices. It shouldn't be too hard, they could pay one or 2 of these hackers from XDA to work on it full time. Today, some have to rely on donations to replace their phone when they fry it.

http://twitter.com/ChiefzReloaded/status/14681541487

> fragmentation

'fragmentation' isn't an issue, it's an enabler. In my case a lot of innovation comes to the OS to be able to support older devices. That's good for everyone.

See also http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/05/on-android-compatibility.html